“...And Then There was the Down Low”: Introduction to Black and Latino Male Bisexualities

Abstract

Although a recent proliferation of mass media has drawn attention to “the new Down Low phenomenon” (presumably “secretive” homosexuality among married Black men), relatively little research has explored bisexual behavior and identity among ethnic minority men in the United States or elsewhere. Although the study of bisexuality in Black and Latino men is significant in its own right, disproportionate rates of HIV/AIDS among these men make the current dearth of scientific information even more urgent and concerning. In this special section, we have compiled a diverse array of empirical and theoretical perspectives on Black and Latino male bisexualities. A wide range of information on the individual, social, and sexual lives of these men, and potential relations to risk behavior, are presented. This article introduces this new body of work and offers suggestions for future research directions for culturally appropriate interventions for Black and Latino bisexual men.

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Acknowledgments

First and foremost, we would like to express our deepest appreciation to the Editor for his assistance and support throughout the course of this project. Indeed, this special section would not have come to fruition without him. Several contributors to this special section (Dodge, Jeffries, Malebranche, Muñoz-Laboy, Padilla, and Sandfort) originally presented their associated work in an invited scientific session, “Black and Latino Male Bisexuality and HIV/AIDS: Gender, Context, and Culture,” at the 134th Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association (APHA) in Boston, MA, on November 7, 2006. These individuals would like to thank Drs. Michael Reece and Scott Rhodes (APHA HIV/AIDS Program Co-Chairs) for their roles in arranging and facilitating this special event. Support for writing this paper was provided by National Institute of Mental Health grant P30 MH43520 to the HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies (PI: Dr. Anke A. Ehrhardt).

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